Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01R—ELECTRICALLY-CONDUCTIVE CONNECTIONS; STRUCTURAL ASSOCIATIONS OF A PLURALITY OF MUTUALLY-INSULATED ELECTRICAL CONNECTING ELEMENTS; COUPLING DEVICES; CURRENT COLLECTORS
  • H01R31/00—Coupling parts supported only by co-operation with counterpart
  • H01R31/08—Short-circuiting members for bridging contacts in a counterpart
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01R—ELECTRICALLY-CONDUCTIVE CONNECTIONS; STRUCTURAL ASSOCIATIONS OF A PLURALITY OF MUTUALLY-INSULATED ELECTRICAL CONNECTING ELEMENTS; COUPLING DEVICES; CURRENT COLLECTORS
  • H01R13/00—Details of coupling devices of the kinds covered by groups H01R12/70 or H01R24/00 - H01R33/00
  • H01R13/66—Structural association with built-in electrical component
  • H01R13/6608—Structural association with built-in electrical component with built-in single component
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01R—ELECTRICALLY-CONDUCTIVE CONNECTIONS; STRUCTURAL ASSOCIATIONS OF A PLURALITY OF MUTUALLY-INSULATED ELECTRICAL CONNECTING ELEMENTS; COUPLING DEVICES; CURRENT COLLECTORS
  • H01R31/00—Coupling parts supported only by co-operation with counterpart
  • H01R31/02—Intermediate parts for distributing energy to two or more circuits in parallel, e.g. splitter

Definitions

• the present invention relates generally to circuit protection in motor vehicles, and more particularly to an inexpensive means for eliminating fuse boxes in motor vehicles and the need to funnel circuits needing overload protection to such fuse boxes.
• Vehicular wiring must be protected against many potential failure modes.
• vehicle and “vehicle” are intended to include automobiles, trucks, motorcycles and other apparatus in which electrical splices are used.
• One failure mode in vehicles is the possibility that the insulation on any of the many wires in the vehicle will be broken such that the affected wire or wires will short to ground or to other wires or components that may be bare and above ground.
• the magnitude of the problem is seen in the fact that a modern motor vehicle contains hundreds of circuits using hundreds of feet of insulated wire.
• Each wire must be protected against faults by using fuses or other circuit protection devices.
• Such protection devices are sized to handle the sum of the currents through all wires connected to the devices.
• each wire that carries current provided through its fuse is sized such that the fuse will melt and interrupt before the wire is destroyed. This requires that each wire have a current carrying capability larger than the load connected to the wire requires. This adds to the cost and weight of automotive wiring systems.
• circuit protection devices The best location for circuit protection devices is the location at which a plurality of wires split off from a single wire to respective loads. Such locations are known as splices, which are distributed throughout a motor vehicle.
• circuit protection is accomplished using a splice connector provided with internal, automatically resettable protection and designed to be located anywhere in the vehicle.
• a preferred approach is the use of positive temperature coefficient (PTC) material placed within the splice connector, as discussed in detail below, to protect individual wires connected to terminals of the connector. This allows, in addition, individual wires connected to individual loads to be sized for the currents of the individual loads and provided with optimized lengths since the length of an individual wire* to a load need only be the distance from the splice to the load.
• PTC positive temperature coefficient
• Figure 1 is an exploded view of a splice protection device of the invention, the device, as shown, providing electrical protection for six branch circuits,
• Figure 2 is a diagrammatic representation of the device of Figure 1
• Figure 3 is a schematic representation of twelve branch circuits protected by two splice connectors in accordance with the invention.
• a splice connector 10 is shown in an exploded view of its basic components, which include upper and lower conductive stampings 12 and 14, with each stamping having three integral legs 16, and an intermediate conductive stamping 18 having two integral legs 20. Between the respective stampings are located two planar pieces of material 22 and 24 that exhibit the positive temperature coefficient characteristic discussed above.
• the stampings 12, 14 and 18 and planar pieces 22 and 24 are electrically and physically placed together in a sandwich-like structure to form the main body portion of connector 10.
• the connector can be placed in a hollow container 26 having a main body portion provided with an open end adapted to receive a female connector 27.
• Female connector 27 has terminals 28 located in the body thereof that engage legs 16 of the stampings when 27 is inserted into 26 for respective connection of the legs to individual loads 31 and 32 ( Figure 3) via insulated branch circuit wires 33 terminating in the female connector.
• Legs 20 of intermediate stamping 18 are engaged by terminals 29 in connector body 27 to connect the legs to a power feed wire 30, as seen schematically in Figures 2 and 3. In this manner, a parallel set of circuits and loads (31 and 32) can be supplied simultaneously with electrical current and voltage via branch wires 33 of Figure 3.
• a door relay switch 34 is depicted schematically in Figure 3 that is operated by such a door.
• Contacts 38 of the relay can be supplied with electrical current through a main fuse or other protection device (not shown) connected to a feed wire 40.
• the operation of the arrangements depicted in the drawings is as follows. When relay 34 is energized, current is fed to splice connector 10 via contacts 38 and feed wires 30 and 40, and specifically to the legs 20 of center stamping 18.
• the PTC material functions as a latching circuit breaker, i.e., when a fault occurs, the power ( I R) dissipated in the PTC material causes the temperature thereof to rise past a trip point. This causes the resistance of the material to rise to a point in which the ( I 2R) heating equals cooli ⁇ ng effects.
• the PTC material remains in the tripped state until power feed is switched off. The faulted wire can be replaced since its location in the vehicle will be evident from the fact that the load it supplies is not functioning.
• splice connector 10 The operation of and protection afforded by splice connector 10 is fully automatic so that its replacement is not necessary, as in the case of fuses.
• splice connector 10 supplies a multiplicity of loads from a common power feed (30)
• the multiplicity of individual wires connecting the multiplicity of loads to the splice connector can be small in gauge and of optimum lengths, thereby substantially reducing the weight and cost of the systems employing connectors 10.
• a suitable gauge for the individual wires 33 supplying the lamps can be twenty-two, as shown in Figure 3, while the feed wire gauge can be sixteen. Only one feed wire need extend from the power source to the splice of connector 10, and the lengths of branch wires 33 need only be the distance of the connector from the load.

Landscapes

• Details Of Connecting Devices For Male And Female Coupling (AREA)
• Emergency Protection Circuit Devices (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (2)

Family

ID=22536764

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (5)

Families Citing this family (8)

Citations (5)

Family Cites Families (4)

• 1994
  • 1994-11-10 CA CA002174862A patent/CA2174862A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1994-11-10 EP EP95901214A patent/EP0730779A4/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 1994-11-10 JP JP7514011A patent/JPH09508488A/ja active Pending
  • 1994-11-10 WO PCT/US1994/012977 patent/WO1995013621A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
• 1995
  • 1995-07-27 US US08/507,920 patent/US5590011A/en not_active Expired - Fee Related

Patent Citations (5)

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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